For the California Demand Response Measurement & Evaluation Committee, Navigant experts evaluated the potential for using investor-owned utility demand response resources to facilitate the integration of the renewable energy that will be needed to achieve California’s recently established 33 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
Much of the renewable energy required to meet that 33 percent RPS goal by 2020 will be obtained from intermittent resources with variable generation patters, such as wind and solar, that are difficult to predict accurately. As the state increase its reliance on variable renewable energy, it will be harder for the California Independent System Operator to maintain the stability of the states’ electricity grid. California’s current fleet of generation units, such as natural gas-fired fast-start combustion turbines, will be increasingly called upon to ramp up or down to balance the variability of those renewable resources. The system will also need more regulation services to maintain grid stability and meet North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability standards, although it is not yet clear how much additional new capacity will be required to meet those needs.
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